Modeling the impact of crop rotation with legume on nitrous oxide emissions from rain-fed agricultural systems in Australia under alternative future climate scenarios

Yuchun Ma; Graeme Schwenke; Liying Sun; De Li Liu; Bin Wang; Bo Yang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.322

Modeling the impact of crop rotation with legume on nitrous oxide emissions from rain-fed agricultural systems in Australia under alternative future climate scenarios

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Jul 15:630:1544-1552. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.322. Epub 2018 Mar 7.

Authors

Yuchun Ma¹, Graeme Schwenke², Liying Sun³, De Li Liu⁴, Bin Wang⁵, Bo Yang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210044, China; NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia; Climate Change Research Centre, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Science, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210008, China. Electronic address: mayc@nuist.edu.cn.
² NSW Department of Primary Industries, 4 Marsden Park Road, Tamworth, NSW 2340, Australia.
³ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology, College of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210044, China.
⁴ NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia; Climate Change Research Centre, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁵ NSW Department of Primary Industries, Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia; Climate Change Research Centre, ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; Plant Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁶ Agro-environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Tianjin 300191, China.

PMID: 29554771
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.322

Abstract

Limited information exists on potential impacts of climate change on nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions by including N₂-fixing legumes in crop rotations from rain-fed cropping systems. Data from two 3-yr crop rotations in northern NSW, Australia, viz. chickpea-wheat-barley (CpWB) and canola-wheat-barley (CaWB), were used to gain an insight on the role of legumes in mitigation of N₂O emissions. High-frequency N₂O fluxes measured with an automated system of static chambers were utilized to test the applicability of Denitrification and Decomposition model. The DNDC model was run using the on-site observed weather, soil and farming management conditions as well as the representative concentration pathways adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Fifth Assessment Report. The DNDC model captured the cumulative N₂O emissions with variations falling within the deviation ranges of observations (0.88±0.31kgNha^-1rotation^-1 for CpWB, 1.44±0.02kgNha^-1rotation^-1 for CaWB). The DNDC model can be used to predict between modeled and measured N₂O flux values for CpWB (n=390, RSR=0.45) and CaWB (n=390, RSR=0.51). Long-term (80-yr) simulations were conducted with RCP 4.5 representing a global greenhouse gas stabilization scenario, as well RCP 8.5 representing a very high greenhouse gas emission scenario based on RCP scenarios. Compared with the baseline scenarios for CpWB and CaWB, the long-term simulation results under RCP scenarios showed that, (1) N₂O emissions would increase by 35-44% for CpWB and 72-76% for CaWB under two climate scenarios; (2) grain yields would increase by 9% and 18% under RCP 4.5, and 2% and 14% under RCP 8.5 for CpWB and CaWB, respectively; and (3) yield-scaled N₂O-N emission would increase by 24-42% for CpWB and 46-54% for CaWB under climate scenarios, respectively. Our results suggest that 25% of the yield-scaled N₂O-N emission would be saved by switching to a legume rotation under climate change conditions.

Keywords: DNDC; Legume; N(2)O emissions; Rain-fed agriculture; Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios.

MeSH terms

Agriculture / methods*
Air Pollutants / analysis*
Australia
Climate Change / statistics & numerical data*
Crop Production
Crops, Agricultural / metabolism
Ecosystem
Environmental Monitoring
Fabaceae / metabolism
Fertilizers
Models, Theoretical
Nitrogen / analysis
Nitrous Oxide / analysis*
Rain

Substances

Air Pollutants
Fertilizers
Nitrous Oxide
Nitrogen